


Of Monsters and Men

by Era_Penn



Series: Of Monsters and Men [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Additional Tags to Be Added, Angst, Fluff, Gen, Half-breeds, Hiding, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Medusa - Freeform, Monsters, Movie Night, Snakes, Supernatural - Freeform, self-hate, stone - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-01-08 13:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 3,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Era_Penn/pseuds/Era_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony isn't quite as human as everyone believes.<br/>Here's a hint: He wears mirrored contact lenses.<br/>Oh, and there are snakes in his hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony Stark wasn’t the average or the typical human. He was a genius, above and beyond anyone else the world had to offer, with a few notable exceptions that could approach his level, including Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, and Stephen Hawking, each in a different field. Even they agreed that the man was beyond brilliant.

But that wasn’t all that set Tony apart. He had a secret. A deep, dark secret. His mother hadn’t been entirely human either. In fact, she’d only barely passed the definition of humanoid.

Μαρία Stark nee Μέδουσας was, in fact, the last Medusa. Which made Tony a half.

Tony Edward μέρος-Μέδουσας Stark was now the last Medusa.

Well, he couldn’t say it didn’t make life interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Most Medusa took a couple of centuries to learn cloaking magic. Tony wasn't just any Medusa. By the time he was seven, he could cast a decent enough projection to move autonomously of his mother. There were a few minor mishaps before Tony got mirrored contact lenses, but at such a young age no one was left a permanent statue.

* * *

By the time he was thirteen, Tony could turn a person to stone straight to the heart. He discovered this when he got kidnapped and the kidnappers didn't fare very well.

* * *

On his first birthday after his parents died, Tony figured out how to reverse the transformation, something no full Medusa had ever done. He was desperate - Rhodey was basically his brother.

That didn't stop him from hitting him and then hugging him and then demanding to know what the hell had just happened.

“Um, my mother wasn’t … human.” Tony said, eyes on the floor. He was terrified - his dad had beaten the terror of discovery into him, and his mother had put more emphasis on hiding himself than anything else. “She was a Medusa.”

“So you’re half magical creature?”

“Half Medusa, yeah.” Tony said, not looking up.

“So is your hair made of snakes?”

Tony smirked. “Sort of. I do have actual hair, but there are some small, deathly poisonous breeds intermixed. They don’t bite unless I tell them to.”

“Well, let’s avoid a repeat of this. I don’t much fancy being turned to stone for the rest of my life.”


	3. Chapter 3

Pepper found out in a less-than-optimal situation, close to the beginning of her employment and their budding friendship. Tony would say relationship, but he was very, VERY careful not to let his curse pass on to any offspring, so he wouldn’t go there.

Tony was a target (again) and he and Pepper had gotten separated from his guards and hidden in a closet. 

Oh, the irony.

“Pepper, do you trust me.”

“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate, cool-headed in a crisis and very aware that the man she was with was more intelligent than most of the world combined and chief weapon designer of the US and her allies.

“Close your eyes, and do NOT open them until I say.”

“What?” she was a little startled by the request. 

“I’ll explain later, just do it!”

Pepper Potts, in a move that would set a pattern for most of the rest of their lives, obeyed, and as the door swung open, she kept them shut, listening to the strange sound like cracking stone.

“Okay, it’s - we’re good - we need to go.”

Opening her eyes, she saw six stone silhouettes in front of them, and recognized at least two as being among their pursuers. Tony’s hair was moving, just for a moment, and after she blinked had settled again.

“How - how the HELL -”

“Explanations later, run now!” he pulled her along, racing down halls she barely recognized and out a door into the waiting arms of Rhodey and the military, who were leery of any enemies getting their hands on the genius.

 

She got the explanation out of him that night, back at the Malibu mansion, and took it in without question. If Tony Stark said there were Medusa, then there were.

Besides, it wasn’t like she was going to question him much on the supernatural. She had a great-great-great-great-grandmother who was a vampire at a blood bank, after all, not that Tony needed to know that.

(Gramma Aliy was a little crazy, after all, and knowing Tony, he’d try to sleep with her)

“But wait; I thought they were Gorgons.”

“Well, Stheno doesn’t have any descendants, and Euryale’s aren’t really the same anymore, so the remaining Gorgons are all of Medusa, so the two are synonymous. The details get a little weird.” he paused. “Of that explanation, _that’s_ what you question?”

“Let’s just say my family isn’t without its share of history.”

“Fair enough.”


	4. Chapter 4

Happy Hogan was the third and final person to learn of Tony’s unusual genetic make up for years after that. He drove Tony home dead drunk too often not to notice that his hair turned into snakes when he passed out. Neither of them ever mentioned it.

* * *

In Afghanistan, he didn’t have enough energy to turn anyone to stone. Normally it took only a very small amount of energy, though if he overused the ability he was left exhausted. In this case it was a boon. He couldn’t turn them _all_ to statues, after all, and if they’d known… well.

In the end he escaped with another lump of rock in his heart (because any Medusa knows that metal is simply another type of stone).

And then Obadiah rips his heart from his chest and he almost dies, again. Would have died, if he weren’t a supernatural monster in part, if he didn’t have all the abilities of his mother and all the brilliance of his father. If he didn’t have Pepper. Really, mostly, if he didn’t have Pepper, and his bots. He’d fix Jarvis up later, remove all the master overrides except his own.

(The suit sang in his ears as the arc did, the loudest stones he’d ever known.)

* * *

Palladium poisoning. He should have seen that coming, he’s sure. But he didn’t. He’s barely surviving, hanging onto life by the fingernails, when Vanko attacks at the Grand Pris, and then he’s throwing a birthday party he doesn’t want (why should he? He’s dead anyway) and wondering if they’ll realize he’s a monster when he dies and dissect his body.

And then, suddenly, he’s meeting with a one-eyed pirate he is convinced is hiding a basilisk eye under that patch and an Agent who just might be the descendent of a Siren and then he’s living again.

Which is… unexpected, to say the least.

His new element tastes like coconut, and it reminds him of the beaches of Malibu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, I got distracted by a couple other fics. I hope this is enjoyable; I know it's short, sorry.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five times someone knows something isn't quite right

When Phil returns from the dead, he’s pissed, but somehow no one else living with him is.

“Jesus, are you the grandson of a Siren or something? Why aren’t you all pissed? He’s been lying to us for months!”

Phil actually gapes at him for a split second before he returns to his usual bland-faced persona. “I don’t know what you are talking about, Stark.”

Tony almost _believes_ him. Damn Sirens.

* * *

“My grandaddy is Apollo.”

Tony blinks and looks up from his work on Clint’s arrows. “What?”

“Apollo is my grandad. He stopped by the other day to tell me he really likes your tech.”

“...Huh.”

“Just sayin’. Whatever it is you’re hiding, you’re one of us. You know that, right?”

“Yep, sure, wouldn’t ever dream of thinking something else.”

Clint snorted, and went back to playing with Dummy while Tony’s racing heart settled and his shoulders relaxed from their tensed position.

* * *

“Tony, why is there snake food in the bathroom cupboard?”

“What? Seriously, Cap, is this really the time?!”

“Well, it’s not like these doombots are actually tough.”

A moment of stunned silence. “Only because I am _actively interrupting their network_! I know I make this look easy, but there are maybe two other people in the world who could do it, and certainly not while fighting!”

“But seriously - snake food, as in small living rodents, in the bathroom?”

“We will talk about this _later_ , capsicle!”

Oooo, Tony was pissed. He hadn’t called Steve capsicle since the other man had tried to actually apologize for what was said on the Helicarrier.

* * *

“Stop hissing, Stark!”

“I’m not!” He hissed.

“Yes you are! It’s going to blow the whole op!”

The hissing quieted.

“...Wait. Why are you hissing.”

“I said I’m not, Rushman!”

Ouch.

* * *

“You have fought well this day, my snake-haired friend!”

Tony spilled his coffee straight down his front. “What the hell, Thor?!”

“I apologize - was this meant to be hidden?”

“Yes! How did you even - right, god.”

Thor looked puzzled. “I shall not speak of this, then.”

“Please.”

* * *

“...Tony? Do you like snakes?”

“What?”

“Well, I was just browsing the other day, and a bunch of sights on snakes popped up.”

“Oh. I was, uh, looking into… new poisons for Clint and Tasha! Yeah.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Really. Because Darevsky Vipers, British Adders, and Red Rat-or-corn snakes are very specific species, and the cornsnake isn’t even poisonous.

Tony made a hasty retreat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I chose these three snakes because:  
> [Darevsky Vipers](http://www.arkive.org/darevskys-viper/vipera-darevskii/) are small, brown and secretive. They are venomous but little is known about them.  
> [British Adders](http://blog.arkive.org/2013/02/arkives-top-10-deadliest-snakes/) are shy/timid, and it is rare for someone to get a glimpse of one. They are, however, Britain's deadliest snake, and you have to be either very unlucky or incredible stupid to get bitten by one.  
> [Red Rat snakes](http://nassau.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulture/gardentalk/wildlife.html) are red and gold. Non-venomous, they are incredible climbers, capable of going straight up vertical surfaces, and very strong. Defend themselves aggressively when cornered. Also called red cornsnakes.


	6. Chapter 6

Clint knew Tony wasn’t entirely human, figured it after living with him for a while, but he’d never exactly expected this.

“Okay, you can open them.”

Clint opened his eyes, still stunned to find statues in front of him. “How the hell’re you gonna explain to Fury?”

“Hell if I know.”

“And the rest of the team.”

The tension in Tony’s shoulders, braced, waiting for pain, ratcheted up another notch. When Clint laid a gentle hand there, Tony flinched away from him, hard. “We’re not going to hurt you, Tony.”

“I know, dammit!” He snarled, accepting Clint’s hand tugging him along by his arm. He refused to open his eyes or drop his glamour, even now, when Clint knew he had to be at least part Medusa. “Howard didn’t know until after he married my mother that she and any children she bore would be monsters.” Tony continued softly, in an unusual display of trust.

Clint’s hand tightened. “You are _not_ a monster!”

Tony shrugged, shoving Clint behind him at the sound of approaching footsteps. He turned back after dealing with the mercenaries, eyes closed once more. “I do believe your kind are supposed to hunt mine.”

Clint snorted. “I’ve never been one to follow the rules, and it isn’t Ancient Greece anymore.”

“Turned Rhodey to stone once.”

“Wait, really? I thought that was irreversible.”

“It’s supposed to be.” Tony said, duly.

“I won’t tell the team.” Clint said quietly. “But you should.”

Silence.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony, with more certainty than he had ever concealed a secret in his life, absolutely did not.

And then Rhodey and Pepper got on his case about it.

The sharp clicking of Pepper’s heels was the first sign. Her heels only clicked with that kind of deadly force when she meant business. The fact that she was accompanied by the heavy boot steps of Rhodey further boded that the conversation about to take place was not going to be fun. They only ganged up on him when he was in a whole ‘nother level of idiotic (and he let it show, otherwise the palladium thing would not have gone on nearly so long).

“Tony, how’s it hissin’ man?”

Tony wasn’t falling for that. “Haha.” he said drily. Very, very drily.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “You should tell your team.”

“Clint knows!”

“You should tell the rest of your team.” Pepper frowned. “Wait. Oh - that kidnapping?”

“Bingo. And why the hell should I?”

“Because you trust them.”

“Don’t.”

“Do.”

“Don’t.”

“Yes, you do.” Rhodey interrupted. “Come on, man, you don’t really think they would react like Howard did, do you?”

Tony actually flinched at that, face going pale and eyes momentarily losing track of the workshop around him in favor of familiar iron bars and pain. “Uuuh….”

A look of stunned disbelief crossed both of his friends’ faces. “If I had a fuckin’ time machine -” Rhodey growled, jaw clenching.

“Yeah, yeah, honeybear,” Tony said, face regaining a little color.

“Sorry.” 

“No problem sugar bee.”

“Tony,” Pepper said, all reasonable and gentle. “They’re going to find out sooner or later. You are _living_ with them all.”

“Whose brilliant idea was that, anyway?” Tony grumbled.

The silence was telling.

“...I’m still afraid.” Tony said so softly his two friends almost missed it. And if Tony admitting to fear wasn’t telling, nothing was.

“Okay,” Pepper sighed as Rhodey backed down. “Okay.”


	8. Chapter 8

Pepper and Rhodey were right, of course, about the inevitability of the team finding out about his little secret.

He just didn’t expect it to happen _quite_ like this.

“Guys.”

“-find Loki, make him put you back -”

“before those snakes try to eat you -”

“Guys!”

Clint was smirking, the bastard, and not saying anything at all.

They’d run into Loki in central Manhattan, and it had all gone downhill from there. Loki, it seemed, could detect glamours.

And then neutralize them.

Tony had taken a pretty solid hit and been knocked out of the sky, and the team had managed to deal with Loki and promptly descended on him where he was pulling off bits of armor, muttering angrily.

They then proceeded to panic, because without the glamour, Tony had a head full of snakes. They didn’t exactly have context for the situation either. Thank God he wore his mirrored contacts today. 

“GUYS!”

Finally they all shut up and looked at him.

“Loki didn’t do anything except undo the glamour I had running.”

Dead silence.

“Surprise, my mother was the last of Medusa’s children.”

Silence.

“If that’s all, I’m going to go figure out how to recast the illusion. And before you all go getting pissy at me for keeping secrets, Clint is the grandson of Apollo.”

“Hey!”

“You were ready to throw me under the bus there.”

“Touche.”

“Wait.” Cap said. “What?”

Tony walked away, unwilling to stick around to see their reactions once the shock had worn off. He barely noticed them all turning on Clint to try and get some answers.

Hiding in the lab may be blatantly obvious, but also really difficult to get past, at least.


	9. Chapter 9

Clint groaned as his teammates (minus Tony) turned to him for an explanation. “Did it really never occur to you that if Thor and Loki are real, other pagan gods might be as well?” he asked.

“I had hoped they weren’t,” Natasha grouched.

“Well, the Greek ones are. Apollo, as our snake-haired friend mentioned, is my grandad.”

“And that means Tony is what, exactly,” Cap asked.

“So… ever hear the legend of the three Gorgons? Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa? They were three women cursed with snakes for hair, ugliness, and anyone who looked them in the eye turned to stone. Tony’s mother was one of Medusa’s children; the last true Gorgon. Euryale and Stheno turned as monstrous as their appearance, and they’ve...changed,” Clint replied.

The Avengers stared at him, completely taken by surprise. 

“Why’d he run away?” Bruce asked, easily piercing the heart of the issue.

“When I found out, I got the impression Howard didn’t react well to his son’s half-Gorgon side.” Steve’s mouth tightened. Bruce’s did as well. Clint had a feeling they were for entirely different reasons. 

“He thinks he’s a monster of some kind, then?” Natasha asked, making Steve whip around to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Oh yeah. Believes it with pretty much everything in him,” Clint agreed. “Asked me point-blank why I wasn’t trying to kill him. Demigods and Gorgons have… a bit of a history. Anyway, based on the conversation I had with him before, he doesn’t actually think any of us would try to hurt him or anything, but decades-old habits and reflexes are hard to kick.”

Steve got that determined expression on his face that, when Tony was involved, indicated he was about to screw up. At a level that no other Avenger could even begin to compete with.

“No,” Bruce said, grabbing Steve as he moved to stand. “Coming from you, he’ll take it as pity or condescension..” Standing himself, the genius calmly looked them over. “We are going to go home, and Tony will undoubtedly be locked in the workshop. Order some weird obscure food. Put on a movie. I’ll drag the genius out of his den.”

No one argued with Bruce. Not when he used that tone of voice.


	10. Chapter 10

“Dr. Banner is requesting entrance into the workshop sir.”

“Still on lockout, Jarvis.”

“I believe it would be beneficial for you to allow Dr. Banner entry, sir.”

“Of course you do.” 

“Dr. Banner would like me to inform you that he will wait.”

Tony groaned and let his head fall against the worktable in front of him with a thud.

“He is sitting outside the door.”

“Gods, fine! Let him in!”

“I knew you’d come ‘round.”

“Shut up, Bruce,” Tony grumbled.

“You weren’t planning on missing post-mission movie night, were you? Because let me tell you, that is a serious offense you do not want hanging over your head. Trust me, I know.”

Tony eyed Bruce warily, trying to figure out his play. “So you’ve been elected to discuss today’s events with me, huh? Funny, I thought for sure I would get a horrendous cap lecture for keeping secrets from the team.”

“Of all our teammates,” Bruce replied, “I get hiding the monster best.”

Tony stiffened, and then relaxed, recognizing the blatant honesty and respecting it. “You’re not a monster,” he said, knowing it would go ignored.

“Neither are you. However, neither of us is going to convince the other, so I’d rather spend my time eating bizarre food from random places in New York and watching cheesy eighties films to try and catch cap up on pop culture.”

Tony eyed Bruce again. “I see what this is.”

“What’s that?”

“You just want me to come upstairs.”

“I thought that would be obvious.”

Tony frowned at him. “Why?”

“Because no Avenger is allowed to miss movie night. It’s in the handbook. I distinctly remember you putting it there specifically so I couldn’t get out of it,” Bruce said drily. More seriously, he continued, “None of us are going to judge you based on your birth, Tony. None of us have the room to. Not even cap will, though when he inevitably tries to talk to you it’s going to sound like it, because he’s politically correct to the point it isn’t anymore.”

Tony couldn’t help but snigger at that. “Fine, I’ll come up. What’s for dinner?”

“Hwoe Dupbap, sir,” Jarvis interjected, “It is a fish and vegetable dish from Korea. I believe the team also ordered Chapche, Eundaego Jorim, and Dukmandukuk.”

Tony grins at Bruce when he offers a hand to help Tony up. “Only for you, big guy.”


	11. Chapter 11

Tony follows Bruce into the movie room tense and, if he’s totally honest (a failing he tries to avoid), hiding behind the hulk’s mild-mannered alter ego.

The other Avengers very determinedly do NOT show any sign of noticing them enter the room, other than Clint, who yells, “Oi, Stark! Tell Steve that Coraline is sincerely terrifying, he doesn’t believe me!”

“It really is, Cap,” Tony says, a bit hesitantly. “Whoever said it was a kids movie needs to be shot, and I refuse to watch it again.”

“My vote is for October Sky,” Natasha says lazily.

“You just want to see Steve cry,” Bruce says frankly, “And quite possibly both Tony and I as well.”

Natasha shrugs, neglecting to confirm or deny, which is an answer in and of itself.

Tony struggles for a moment, and says, “we could watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Clint and I can point out all the inconsistencies.”

“Hell no. That movie is awful. Jackson’s so much snarkier in real life,” Clint complains. 

Tony sniggers. “I thought Annabeth was going to hunt down the director and shoot him personally after we showed it to her.”

“I’m not convinced that she didn’t,” Clint replies. 

The atmosphere in the room relaxes. 

“Well, at least this explains the snake food in the bathroom sink,” Steve says. “Now, really, Coraline can’t be that scary.”

Clint shakes his head. “You asked for it, Cap.”


End file.
